Monthly Archives: May 2013

This snippet is from Warlock’s Pawn and continues from the last one (click on the SFFSat tag at the bottom of the post to read past snippets). Warlock’s Pawn is a fantasy romance inspired by The Arabian Nights. It was released last month and is available on LSBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, and Kobo.

I was busy interviewing another SFFSat author’s erotic alter ego last week, so I couldn’t participate. Just to recap–Alia had just flown off a cliff to save the Warlock her sister, Anora, attempted to kill. In return, Duncan sucked up all her magic, causing them to drop mid-flight. Also of note–Alia and Anora’s eyes are the same color.

The slender arms that circled his waist tightened as lines of strain formed on the corners of those slightly up-tilted eyes. “My wings will fail if you do not stop,” she warned, distress evident in her voice.

Left without a choice, he relinquished control, allowing a stranger to have power over his fate. Their fall immediately slowed as if a sail had spread to allow them to coast the winds. With the complex interchange of power between them, he gained enough access to the fey’s mind to glean her name.

“Why did you save me, Alia?” he asked as they landed on the sand. While he felt strong enough to stand, the fey’s small body slumped onto the dunes. Crouching, he flipped the veiled creature over so he could gaze into those damning eyes.

SFFSat is a group of writers sharing snippets from both published and unpublished works of science fiction and fantasy. You can read more about the group by clicking the banner to the left, as well as follow links to the other participants. Any comments are much appreciated!

This is the first in a series of memoir-style entries I’m titling “A Writer’s Life.”

This post won’t make sense unless I provide some context. Back when I was in college, I was the stereotypical geek. I had (bad) red streaks in my hair, watched 75 episodes of Hikaru No Go (an anime) in two sittings, and dressed up as Kagome (from Inuyasha) on Halloween. I was one of those girls guys discussed mIRC issues with (and I was never asked on a single date). My parents had never been pro-gaming, so I bought a PS2 with my first paycheck almost immediately after moving into my dorm. I then proceeded to work my way through all the games I wanted to play back in highschool.

In college, I had one of those jobs where I was more or less paid to sit in one place and answer questions if the phone ever rang (which it rarely did). Therefore, I had plenty of time to go through an RSS feed filled with posts from Kotaku, Joystiq and CheapAssGamer.com. When left to my own devices, I would do not so smart things such as play Resident Evil 4 for 17 hours straight (with bathroom breaks), and drive my then boyfriend crazy as I created a spreadsheet in order to beat Final Fantasy X. (By the way, I’m not contradicting myself. My then boyfriend, now husband, never actually asked me out on a date. I’ll leave that story for another day.)

One of the first joint purchases DH and I made (before we were married) was an Xbox 360 (yes, shortly after launch–and yes, that particular one is now RIP thanks to the red ring of death). We then proceeded to log over 220 hours playing Elder Scrolls 4 – Oblivion. It was a great bonding experience–I designed the character, managed the inventory, beefed up the stats, enchanted the weapons, and created the spells. He got the unpleasant task of fighting those creepy crawly spiders and skeletons (first person fighting gives me vertigo.).

When those lovely college years came to an end (kids, you have no idea how good you have it), my Xbox followed my husband and I to Washington, D.C. I started working the day after graduation, but I still had enough time to feed my gaming habit. Over the next few years, I got 1000 achievement points in Civilization Revolution, filled Albion’s coffers in Fable 2, and fell in love with Dragon Age: Origins (lets not bring up Dragon Age 2 right now. It’ll spoil my nostalgic mood).

And then I realized I wanted to become an author. It had always been in the back of my mind, but I was too busy making rent and enjoying myself to see the signs (the journals full of scribblings next to the Xbox should have clued me in, but they didn’t). I had always been a writer, but trying to turn that passion into a career is an entirely different endeavor. I had to set goals and commit to writing a certain number of hours per week (as opposed to whenever the muse struck). Then there’s the pesky problem of finding an epublisher who would take my novellas on, as well as all the additional responsibilities that comes with signing a contract.

I would describe my current stage of author-dom as the “intern paid in coffee” stage. I make a living off my day-job (which is, unfortunately, no longer of the “sit around and do nothing variety”) and work part-time as an author in exchange for indeterminate potential earnings. Combine that with DH’s mandatory gym sessions, doing groceries, and having a social life, this more or less leaves just enough time for sleep.

As a result, my relationship with the Xbox fizzled for two years before officially ending about a year ago. I was relegated to enviously glancing in DH’s direction as he beat Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Mass Effect 2, and Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. I consciously chose not buy Final Fantasy XIII (the game that once launched my failed “We MUST buy a PS3 campaign”). I wanted to be an author, and some luxuries had to go.

So why am I writing this (and more importantly, why did I tag this post “pep-talk”)?

I officially turned-in my “two month notice” yesterday (it was a one year contract, so this was just a formality). Since then, I’ve been a bit in the doldrums. On top of conjuring horrifying visions of packing up and moving countries (again), only to have to move to another country a year later, the notification brought home the fact that I’ll be unemployed (again) as of July 18, 2013.

While I am by no means going to starve on the streets (an unexpected side-effect of becoming an author was lowered expenses), the prospect of no longer having a regular paycheck made me anxious. With the six months of language training DH is trying to sign me up for (which should improve my employment prospects at his onward assignment), my one year in the U.S. is simply not conducive for getting a day job. I’ll have a six-week break, followed by classes (hopefully), followed by another four-month gap before we leave the country. Not exactly great fodder for a job interview.

As such, DH and I decided I should simply take this opportunity to write full-time. While I should be jumping up and down with joy, the prospect frightens me. Despite what’s been floating around the blogosphere of late, being an erotic romance author (on average) is not some gold-coin laden path to stardom. At this stage, I’d be lucky if my royalties end up paying for a chocolate coin or two. So yesterday was one of those days when I wasn’t exactly depressed, but neither was I my usual cheerful self. I was dreading July and the changes it will bring.

And then all the chatter surrounding the Xbox One caught my eye. Despite what the critics are saying, the prospect of a new generation of consoles brought a smile to my face. I haven’t had time to play video games for a year. Don’t get me wrong–I love being an erotic romance author. I wouldn’t give it up for all the video games in the world. But having something to look forward to reminded me I wasn’t simply losing an income–I was trading money for time. Most of it will be spent writing, but some of it I can reserve for just being myself again.

Last year, I didn’t follow the E3 announcements. Why bother? They were talking about all the games I wouldn’t have time to play. This year, on some days, it might be DH’s turn to enviously watch as I sit on the couch with a game controller in hand. Who knows? A certain someone might be persuaded to get me an Xbox One on my birthday.

Welcome to my stop on the Absolutely Erotic Blog Hop! This May, we showcase erotica and erotic romance authors from the Absolute Write forums. Interviews are posted each day, and when it’s all said and done, some lucky commenter will win a huge prize! Click here for the entire blog schedule, details about the contents of the prize, and how to win an armload of ebooks, a $25 Amazon gift card, and more.

Today, I’m hosting Anna Zabo . We first met on the Absolute Write forums, and she’s the lovely lady who introduced me to the #SFFSAT blog chain. We’ve commented on each other’s blogs and chatted on Twitter (@amergina), so hopefully she feels quite at home.

Incidentally, this is my first time interviewing anyone, so please pardon the excitement.

Hi Anna, can you tell me a little about your latest release?

Hi Tara, thanks for having me! My latest release is Slow Waltz, a Spring Fling short story from Loose Id. It’s an m/m erotic paranormal romance and continues the story of Rhys and Silas from Close Quarter. However, Slow Waltz is stand-alone, so it can be read without having read the other book.

It’s about Rhys coming to terms with the relationship he’s suddenly found himself in. And about dancing and learning to trust your partner.

Let’s chat about the two male protagonists in Slow Waltz and Close Quarter. I’m most interested in their physical attributes—they look quite fetching in the cover art.

I adore the cover art! *sigh* It’s actually very close to how I picture them. Rhys is jus about spot on, from his reddish hair to his very green eyes and that smirk. He’s about 5’11” and pretty well-built. He’s a sculptor who specializes in larger works in metal, stone, and wood, so he’s used to hauling around some pretty heavy objects (often mechanically assisted, but still).

Silas is a bit taller than Rhys at 6’, has dark, near black hair that likes to settle into waves if it gets too long. He was born in what is now central Italy, so think Mediterranean sun-kissed skin and classic features, with amber eyes. That’s what a human would see, for the most part. As fae, he’s pretty much stunningly beautiful to every human near to the point of enthrallment, if he’s not glamoured. Rhys isn’t affected by that, though.

Now that you’ve got my heart all a flutter, tell me about their paranormal abilities. What cool powers do Rhys and Silas have?

Silas is a forest and field fae, so he can manipulate plant life to some extent. Make it grow a bit faster, cure any disease or damage. But he also can take that energy into himself and use it to become faster and stronger. To heal himself or other fae and humans. Lack of access to plant energy won’t kill him, but being wounded away from energy to heal himself can.

You know, like on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean.

All fae have the ability to glamor themselves and others around them. So they can pass for human and often hide what they’re really doing, even in a large crowd.

Rhys is one quarter fae, which is extraordinarily rare. Legend has it that quarters are vast batteries of energy that a fae of the same element can harness, but the quarter fae has no inherent talent to use the energy at all. Let’s just say that legends aren’t always correct. Even fae legends.

If they were both at a bar, what kind of drink would they prefer? (Not that I’ll try to bump into them or anything)

Silas likes hard things. *cough* Like single-malt Scotch. Rhys is more of a beer kind of guy. But he’s learning to enjoy hard things too.

*Laughs* I hope he learns quickly. By the way, those are two really cool names. Are Rhys and Silas namesakes of someone you know?

Nope! Silas got his name because I was hunting down Roman names and came across Silvanus, which seemed perfect for a forest fae. Silas is a variant of that.

Rhys is a name I’ve always loved, and that seemed to roll of the tongue well with Silas.

Sometimes, the names just happen…Rhys is one of those characters whose name just was there.

Of all the ballroom dances they could learn, why the waltz?

I wanted something elegant. But also something fairly easy to learn! The actual steps to the waltz aren’t hard.

Why did you set Rhys and Silas’ stories on a cruise ship?

I had a dream about a fae vampire hunter on a cruise ship. It was much more action-oriented and kind of steampunky, but the idea stuck with me. And it seemed like a nice problem for a forest fae to be stuck in the middle of an ocean…quite literarily out of his element!

Were you inspired by any cruise line in particular?

I spent a lot of time on the webpage of the Queen Mary 2, just to get the feel of a larger, luxury cruise ship. While I was writing Close Quarter, I took a Mediterranean cruise with HollandAmerica, on a much smaller ship (the Prinsendam) and that helped inform a lot of the things about cruising in general.

Lucky you. So where exactly on this cruise ship did they first do the naughty things?

Silas gives Rhys a rather spectacular hand job in a hallway…

*Fans self* And I’m sure it gets much hotter elsewhere. Since we’re trying to keep this PG–If you could only meet one of them in real life, who would it be?

Rhys. He’s more down to earth and human. I adore Silas, but he’s a little otherworldly at times. Rhys is someone I could sit down with, drink beer, eat popcorn, and watch an awful movie.

What’s the most romantic scene these two share?

Probably the one in Slow Waltz where they dance with each other in public.

Now you’ve got me all dreamy eyed. *Pleading Look* Do you have more adventures planned for Rhys and Silas?

Yes. There’s at least one book set in New York, once they arrive, since there are some loose ends that need to be wrapped up there. That may take more than one book, though.

There will also be a book featuring Vasil, the waiter who ends up seeing far too many things otherworldly in Close Quarter.

What writing project(s) are taking up all your time these days?

I’m working on the Vasil book and also an m/m contemporary novella about a guy who has a fantastic on-night-stand while on vacation, only to come home and find that his ‘stand is the new CEO. Ooops.

Thank you for visiting this stop on the Absolutely Erotic Blog Hop! Please be sure to visit Anna Zabo’s blog tomorrow to read an interview with Scarlet Day, and comment for more chances to win the grand prize!

Slow Waltz

New lovers Rhys Matherton and Silas Quint finally have a chance to breath easy and enjoy a well-earned respite on board a transatlantic cruise to New York City. But the lack of danger gives Rhys too much time to think about the enormity of falling in love with a man who isn’t human. He’s not sure love at first sight can last, especially when your lover is fae. Sure, the sex is fantastic, but that’s not enough to hang the rest of your potentially immortal life upon.

To distract himself, Rhys suggests he and Silas take a set of lessons to learn to waltz. The plan backfires when they are paired with two older women—one of whom reminds Rhys of his recently deceased mother. Instead of being able to ignore thinking about his future with Silas, he’s actively questioned about his lover. And it seems the whole boat knows who he’s sleeping with.

As Rhys learns the steps of the waltz, he has to decide if he’ll continue to dance around what he feels for Silas or if he’ll finally learn to trust in his partner’s love for him.

About the Author

Anna Zabo writes erotic paranormal romance and fantasy. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which isn’t nearly as boring as most people think. A lover of all things fae, and wonderful, she looks for the magical in the cracks of her city.

This post is part of the May 2013 Blog Chain at Absolute Write. This month, the prompt is “Dialogue Only.” As if that weren’t difficult enough, there’s an additional optional prompt “Wrong Place, Right Time.”

By the way, my reaction to this prompt was “oh crap.” I’m an erotic romance writer–while my characters do their fair share of talking, they’re usually preoccupied with other fun stuff. Therefore, I’m sorely out of practice.

This snippet is from Warlock’s Pawn and continues from the last one (click on the SFFSat tag at the bottom of the post to read past snippets). Warlock’s Pawn is a fantasy romance inspired by The Arabian Nights. It was released last month and is available on LSBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, and Kobo.

Sorry I didn’t participate last week (I was on vacation)! Just to recap–Alia had just flown off a cliff to save the Warlock her sister, Anora, attempted to kill. In the last snippet, Duncan had to decide if he would trust her to save him or not.

He accepted her white magic into his inner core and felt it strengthen the few threads of light that held him to this world. The princess’ poison was lethal, her torture agonizing, and what the two did not finish, the fall down the ravine should have done. Yet he grew more alive with each second, his very life force feeding off another’s, the act forging an intimate bond he would rather reject.

Sensing safety behind the layered mind, he drew in what he needed to reach full strength, taking rather than waiting to receive her gift. The moment he did, their bodies plummeted at breakneck speed into the abyss.

“You have the gift of flight,” he observed with well-hidden amazement as they continued to fall. He only now realized he was still rocketing down the gorge, his progress hindered by this fey’s invisible wings.

SFFSat is a group of writers sharing snippets from both published and unpublished works of science fiction and fantasy. You can read more about the group by clicking the banner to the left, as well as follow links to the other participants. Any comments are much appreciated!

Congrats to Kim K. for winning a $10 Gift Card for the Warlock’s Pawn Virtual Book Tour Giveaway! She also gets an electronic copy of my novella.

I’ve sent you an email Kim. If you didn’t get it, please leave a comment and I’ll try again.

And this, folks, concludes my book tour! It’s been a blast and I owe all my book tour hosts a huge thank you. I’d also like to give a shout-out to the lovely ladies at Author Assistant Agency–you guys made this a walk in the park.

Okay, so I’m a little late (life got the better of me). The Absolutely Erotic Blog Hop began yesterday–it came into being thanks to the incomparable Lauren Gallagher/L.A. Witt, who brought up the idea of jointly promoting erotic fiction on an AbsoluteWrite.com thread. A bunch of us forum dwellers/erotic fiction writers signed up, and here we are.

Each day from May 8-23, interviews will be posted, and when it’s all said and done, some lucky commenter will win a huge prize! You can watch for tweets about updated prizes, newly posted interviews, etc, under the hashtag #absolutelyerotic.

So what can you win thus far?

A lovely beaded necklace

A signed paperback of your choice from L.A. Witt or Lauren Gallagher’s backlists

Brutally Honest over at The To Be Read Pile just posted a review of Warlock’s Pawn.

Here’s the first two sentences:

This is the second book I’ve read from this author and they’re both really impressive. Warlock’s Pawn is unique, has a solid plot and I see great things in the future if she keeps writing fabulous stories like this.

I’ve been tagged in The Next Big Thing blog hop by Eva Lefoy. Her blog post is here.

This is an opportunity for authors to talk about what they’re working on. The author answers ten questions about their latest book, and (ideally) tags more authors.

Today, I’m talking about my WIP, which is in the content edits phase. It should be released in the late summer/early fall.

1. What is your working title/title of your book?

More than Strangers (Safe Harbor – Book 1)

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

Back in February, I did a flash fiction blog post as part of the Absolute Write Blog Chain (read it here). It features Nulli (name borrowed from fellow LSB author Nulli Para Ora) and an unlucky polo player. Not long after it was posted, the characters kept bugging me to write their story. I tend to do whatever my characters tell me to do–it’s essential for my sanity.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Good question. I started writing it in mid-February, and it was ready for my beta by late-March. I work full-time though, so five weekends plus a few extra hours during the week might be a better way to describe it.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Its an oldie, but Linda Howard’s Mackenzie’s Pleasure comes to mind. It’s a novella, so the length matches. It also features a one night stand, followed by a period of separation, and a danger that brings the hero and heroine back together. Add an alpha male hero and a (if I do say so myself) kick ass heroine, and you’ve got quite a few parallels.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Not so long ago, I met a real life Nulli (i.e. a public health worker heading a TB-testing initiative in South Asia). The encounter was very brief, but I knew the moment we met I had to write a story about what she was doing.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

If you like sex scenes with just a bit a kink and lots of heat, I’m your girl.

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